Odometer for boat?

[twistedtree]

I'm curious what solutions people have come up with for an odometer for your boat. I'm interested in keeping track of distance traveled, but am finding that in the pile of electronics on my boat, nowhere is an odometer to be found.

On my last boat it was a function in the simrad auto pilot, but the furuno pilot doesn't have that feature.

I was then excited to find a Total Log and a Trip Log in N2KView, but it turns out it only works if you have a water speed instrument that tracks distance traveled. I figured it would work off any GPS, but it's not that sophisticated.

Coastal explorer doesn't have one either, though it records tracks and the length of each and I'm sure it would be pretty easy to just keep a running tally. But as of now, it doesn't.

Anyone found any good solutions? I'd even consider installing a dedicated device if that's what it takes. Extra credit goes to any device where you can set a starting value of something other than zero.

 

[dimer2]

My Furuno has an easy to set trip function. It would be nice if as you say, you could have a start value other than zero. I have to do the math with the MM on the ICW which is a pain but not the end of the world.

 

[ranger58sb]

One of our Furuno GPS units (the DGPS one) has a distance log, visible in one of the alternate displays.


(The main display would be coordinates, but we usually don't need that since we have the other GPS/plotter... so I usually keep the voltage display up, and that's the one that shows distance traveled.)


If not reset, that distance just keeps adding up, so I know we have something like 6900 nm on the boat so far. I record individual trip distances, from that, in our log book.


-Chris

 

[Ski in NC]

My backup Furuno 1651 has the nm log. Had internal batt replaced, that zero'd it.

 

[N4712]

Looks like someones going to have to start writing some software....

 

[Larry M]

Furuno!

 

[O C Diver]

Surprised your plotter doesn't have one as a display option in one of the menus. My Navnets both have them, just took a little reading in the manual to find it. They serve as the annual odometer. I have an old Furuno Gps 36 that I use for my daily trip log.

Ted

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[MYTraveler]

My furuno satellite compass (SC-150?) has an odometer page with both trip mileage and lifetime mileage. Somehow, it is smart enough not to count the distance spent swinging around at the dock.

 

[twistedtree]

My Furuno has an easy to set trip function. It would be nice if as you say, you could have a start value other than zero. I have to do the math with the MM on the ICW which is a pain but not the end of the world.

Which model furuno?

 

[twistedtree]

Surprised your plotter doesn't have one as a display option in one of the menus. My Navnets both have them, just took a little reading in the manual to find it. They serve as the annual odometer. I have an old Furuno Gps 36 that I use for my daily trip log.

Ted

I don't have a plotter. Just Coastal Explorer and a couple of radars.

 

[dimer2]

Which model furuno?

Navnet Vx2

 

[Heron]

Surprised your plotter doesn't have one as a display option in one of the menus. My Navnets both have them,

My inexpensive Garmin plotter as well. I tend to use this one for daily log info.
I also have a Raymarine Bi-data for speed and depth, and found one lurking in one of the menus. 7800 NM since its install 10 yrs ago by a PO..

 

[twistedtree]

Has anyone found one where you can set the starting mileage? I'd be more inclined to consider installing another device if it has the ability to manually set the starting value or provide some sort of offset value.

 

[Ski in NC]

Contact Rosepoint. Maybe the option is buried in some menu. The data are there for this feature, obviously. On my Coastal Explorer, I looked for it too. Ran out of patience before finding it.

When my Furuno batt pooped, I asked the tech if he could enter my old NM reading, he said no. So my boat just lost like 12000nm. Should help with resale!!!

 

[psneeld]

I just downloaded a road navigator app for my tablet called "MapFactor: GPS Navigation"..it has several simple odometer functions.


My chartplotter has one...but occasionally it has been reset and I don't know how. Operator error for sure but still.


Might try this app...we will see.


but in the big scheme of thngs...I usually plot the course between points so the charted distance is good enough as sometimes the track gets interrupted...in the big scheme of things..accurate mileage over thousands of miles really doesn't rate that high on my list of things...it did while I was figuring mileage and times..but know with that background the present doesn't require it.

 

[FlyWright]

Oh, you kids and your new-fangled electronics!

I have an old Garmin GPS 126 that provides me an odometer reading. I snap a pic of it after each significant trip. Gives me running time and trip distance. No option for entering a starting distance other than zero, though. My Garmin GPSMAP 276C and 176 do this, too.

 

[High Wire]

TT, some GPS ask you to set which device supplies speed data, (paddlewheel or GPS) somewhere in the setup menu. My Furuno radar and fishfinder used whatever was selected to compute distance traveled on my last boat. If so, select GPS and never reset the TRIP log. For some reason, the paddlewheel trip measurement reset every time the unit was powered down. Come to think about it, my humminbird 798 keeps a trip log too.

 

[Capecodder]

My cheap Garmin has an Odometer.

 

[FF]

The taffrail log shown WILL operate after the boats battery is dead.

 

[fryedaze]

The e125 and e127 Raymarine units have four trip logs. I use Trip 1 for each day. Trip 2 for planned trips of multiple days ( its currently tracking total miles for the Great Loop). Trip 3 for mile traveled after last refueling and Trip 4 for a total running miles since the instrumentation was installed.
Dave

 

[twistedtree]

This appears to be the closest answer to my dilemma. After digging around a bit, I discovered that my new fish finder has an odometer and trip log. That's about the last place (actually, exactly the last place) I thought to look, but there it is. There doesn't appear to be any way to give it an offset to account for previous miles, so I'll have to tally them up manually and mentally add them.

Thanks everyone for inspiring me to look a little harder in front of my nose....

 

[Larry M]

...fish finder has an odometer and trip log... There doesn't appear to be any way to give it an offset to account for previous miles...

Just a thought, throw it in the car or truck for a few weeks when you're on land. The miles seem to add up faster at 60 than at 8.

 

[twistedtree]

Just a thought, throw it in the car or truck for a few weeks when you're on land. The miles seem to add up faster at 60 than at 8.

That's a great idea. Good out-of-the-boat thinking

Now I just need to figure out how many miles to add....... It's probably around 2000, but I need to hunt through all my west coast tracks.

 

[TDunn]

I run Sea Clear on my net book. It logs distance travelled in a log file. It is freeware, so all you need to do is download it and plug a GPS puck into you computer.

 

[HopCar]

RTF and FF beat me to it. You don't need no stinkin electronics. You need a taff rail log. Unfortunately I don't think anyone makes them anymore. I sold a few of them back in the seventies. Sold a whole bunch of the replacement spinners. Sharks would eat them!

 

[ranger58sb]

Surprised your plotter doesn't have one as a display option in one of the menus. My Navnets both have them, just took a little reading in the manual to find it. They serve as the annual odometer. I have an old Furuno Gps 36 that I use for my daily trip log.

Ted

Yep, ours display in the MFD-12/NN3D "data boxes" and there's both a Trip Log and an Odometer. If the Trip Log hasn't ever been reset, it will display the same value as the Odometer.

Our older DGPS I mentioned above is a GP-36, too.

-Chris

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Those work great. Till the spinner is eaten by a shark.